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Green adventures....Low Tech Jungle river

Jomega

Seedling
Joined
12 Feb 2014
Messages
19
Location
London, United Kingdom
Hi there everyone....

*** SKIP to the asterix's if you want to avoid introductory ramblings etc.

After a friendly welcome onto the forum, I thought I would give a tank journal a bash, as I did have one on a reefing site for a good year, and it was good fun.

I moved to the Uk around five years ago from South Africa, and as soon as i got settled, I got my self a tank, as I have always loved the notion of your own little biome...

I started out with a Fluval Roma 200 - many mistakes were made, but eventually I got it looking respectable.



mckg.jpg




After having my Scalare Angels try to breed on me, and in the process become blood thirsty tyrants to all other inhabitants, I took the leap and went for Discus. I found some incredible Stendker Discus who didnt mind the hard water of London, and eventually the tank looked like this.


nqz3.jpg




Despite really growing fond of those mutli-coloured little pigs (beef heart turned them into velociraptors) i decided i needed another challenge, and i sold them on, as well as the tank.

My eyes were fixed on a marine setup, and so I had a Custom Rimless Tank built.
After alot of mistakes, and a shed load of money (i still feel silly) , the tank was coming along

9jae.jpg



Then I went on a week holiday, and my LED fixture decided to go wonky on me. needless to say the LPS corals bid me farewell, and I returned to a number of skeletons. That clinched it for me, as I had been getting increaingly frustrated with the hassle that comes with mixed marine tanks . O TDs, and absolutely perfect water, stock that generally just cost an arm and a leg and other issues left me uninspired.

So i sold off my stock, and decided to return to fresh water, in the hopes that some sort of ease and comfort might loom on the horizon. It is really refreshing to see the attitude of most members on UKAPS, friendly, and helpful, and serious about their hobby without turning into finger wavers.

***So....apologising for my ramble.

I have decided on a Low Tech tank, as CO2 and T5's didnt really pan out for me the first time. I want simplicity, and less hassle, and Low Tech seems like it just might afford me that.

So on to the particulars
.
Tank - Custom Made Rimless 90cm x 60 cm x 45cm (H) with Sump and X-Aqua Wier.
Stand - Custom
Mechanical Filtration - Filter sock, changed weekly.
Chemical Filtration - Will attempt to be using Aquaroche (its essentially Ceramic Rock designed to act like live rock) to promote the Ntirogen cycle. A large piece will be kept in the sump and blasted with a Tunze 9003 powerhead
Temperature - TMC V"Therm and Fluval Heater as backup - controlled by a ATC 300 with temp probe
Circulation - From tank to sump and back again will be a Sicce Syncra 3 return pump, and intank water movement will be provided by a Ecotech Vortech MP10
Auto Top up - TMC Vtop up+
Lighting - Will be using my Maxspect Razor 160W 16k LED unit - Will only be using the white channel, more than likely at 50 percent.

I have decided to use Moler Clay as the main component of substrate, as it was affordable, and its ability to retain and release nutrients seems interesting to me. I will likely be putting something underneath to enrich it like JBL Aqua basis or something along those lines.
And then i am going to try and stick to simple, easy plants, that dont require CO2 and fussiness. I will update as I go, and hold thumbs that algae does not bloom.
Some pics to follow,

diql.jpg


More pics soon.. off to the LFs tomorrow for some hardscape....and the setting up of all the hardware
Thanks to any who care to glance at this journal. :D
 

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I know the feeling dude I start off with one tank and now I got 4 lol. It can be really easy to challage your self so don't get frustrated it meant to be fun remember. Thing happen and when you run into problem you learn how to fix it. This forum is the best and any time you need info and help just ask :) i always wanted to try marine maybe like soft corals only but too expensive and you need more time on your hand, I'm glad your back on freshwater and I can't wait to see your set up. Good luck.
Cheers ryan
 
Your fluval Roma is actually really nice. My eyes went straight to the small void in the wood and naturally followed the leaves and stick to a calm open space. With maturity that tank would have been excellent. Ill be interested to see your scape develop!
May I suggest Getting a few species of Anubias. They are beautiful plants and grow perfect at low light and naturally inhert substrate.
gl
 
Hey there guys...

So I have made a couple of steps to get everything online... and I am pretty happy given that I am pretty new to the whole tech thing... and its very early days yet...

So I picked up some rocks, some JBL aqua basis plus and some Moler clay. I wanted a nice open look to start...(sorry for the rubbish image - quality - was form my HTC one - my camera is currently offline.)

Rocks down followed by JBL Aqua Basis
2v6w.jpg


Then the Moler clay - boy did that take some rinsing :(
d2n6.jpg


Moler Clay
wnzr.jpg


I purchased a range of low tech easy plants from Aquaessentials, after finding that my LFS's werent really doing it for me... Service from them was great...

rmj3.jpg


Then to the planting....

907f.jpg


yngh.jpg


I also put all the equipmnt onlin the night before.

Ecotech MP10... great for space as their intank foot print is rather small...
Outside tank
rssh.jpg

Inside tank (wet side)
hmpz.jpg


The Vortech can be controlled with its manual controller, or set up to different pulses / rates automatically. And temp of tank controlled with atc300.
mdok.jpg


Fixed to Leccy cabient, with has all plugs, LED light's power unit, and the ATO tank
indv.jpg



Sump also all sorted and the weir seems to be leak free.

First chamber with filter sock, and piece of ceramic aquaroche.
bl45.jpg


And the second and thirs chambers - second with tunze powerhead poushing flow through another piece of aquaroche, and heater, and then third with return pump, backup heater and ATO.
hfz3.jpg


And finally some FTS's after some (not all) of the cloudiness has settled.
k3x6l.jpg


ufrq.jpg


Im hoping that when all the plants settle, and grow out after a month or two it is going to look less sparse.. I also toying witht he idea of planting Echo Tennelus patches more towards the front...

Current plant list is as follows :

Echinodorus argentinensis

Echinodorus argentinensis

Echinodorus argentinensis

Hygrophila polysperma

Bacopa crenata / monnieri

Hygrophila corymbosa thailands

Cryptocoryne undulatus brown

Cryptocoryne bullosa

Cryptocoryne legroi

Heteranthera zosterifolia

Echinodorus tenellus



Thanks so much for looking....

Any feedback or suggestions / advice is welcome...

cheers jo

 

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Very cool - the reef style comes through in the way you have 'scaped this. And as for the equipment, very nice. Reminds me of my old reef, the Triton Lagoon.
 
Update 08/03/2014

So everything is going well at present.
I introduced some Purigen to the system to resolve cloudy water issues, and it has worked incredibly. I have also started dosing ferts, at lower levels (Dry fert starter kit), and have no algae problems at present - touch wood :)
My filtration system seems to be doing the job , and my tank currently also has around ten livebearers in it (as i wanted to continue the easy low bother theme) amongst others, 4 swordtails, 2 sailfin mollies, and 4 platies. i would like to add a large group of dwarf chain loaches when my filter matures a little more.

I also decided to add some crypts bulbosa to the front left and more tennelus to the front right just to balance the negative space and positive space a bit, and im happy. The older plants have settled in nicely, and have shown good growth, especially in the hygrophillia. I am just going to let the plants grow and settle and report back as things mature.
Some pics of things at present.


FTS
afm5.jpg

FTS closer in
dh9t.jpg

Left Side
n8cm.jpg

Right Side
lpdu.jpg


Thats all for now... comments suggestions advice always welcome

thanks for looking :D
 
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